A Normal but Not So
by Bear-Bell
Summary: Alice is well on her way to China, and she's becoming used to her adventuring life. However, her friends in Underland miss their Champion, and they begin to wander to the Aboveground in search of her.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello! Here's my try at Alice in Wonderland. I tried writing a fanfic for the Sifi miniseries, Alice, but that was a mess. It was a fun movie, but they kind of lost the true nature of Wonderland.**

**I don't own Alice or Wonderland!  
**

Alice liked the salty breeze against her face. She closed her eyes against the early morning sun and took a deep breath, steadying herself before turning away from the railing and towards the crew gathered behind her.

"We'll dock," she declared.

There was a collective sigh among the men as they hurried to furl the sails and change course. They showed more vigor in their work than they had in weeks, but even with this small burst of energy, their weariness was apparent.

"You're doing good," Essam told her as he set a heavy hand on her shoulder. He kept it there for only a moment before the captain moved to command the sailors.

Alice sighed as she left the deck in favor of sitting in her cabin and reflecting over her choice.

Their ship had sailed from England almost four months ago, and they'd only just reached India. They were three weeks behind schedule, and docking would no doubt put them further behind.

Captain Essam was right, though. Alice had made the right decision in demanding they dock. So far, their voyage had encountered an insurmountable number of obstacles. Just a week out from England, they'd gone up against pirates. Alice's crew had still been fresh during that time, and they'd easily overtaken the weak and desperate thugs.

After that, they'd encountered several unseasonably large storms, typhoid fever, _another_ encounter with pirates, running onto a reef, and a _whale_ running into them.

From the storms, the pirates, and the illnesses, half of the crew had been lost, including Captain Davies and his first mate, Porter. Alice was lucky to have found Essam, an Arabian man, when they docked in Aden. If he hadn't taken command of the ship, they would have been forced to return home, unsuccessful.

The crew was now comprised of the resilient Englishmen who had initially accompanied her from England and a motley gathering of nationalities whom they had employed during the journey.

The ship and its crew had finally, _finally_, grown used to the sea. The men knew each other and were comfortable with each other, and they were growing accustomed to changing environments and difficult situations. Their skins had grown tough, in a matter of speaking.

Their skins weren't tough enough, though. Not for the hot Indian sun. On this day, it wasn't sickness or injury which was driving them into port. It was the heat. Most of the food was spoiled and the water was old. Then, the sun was burning the men's skin, and it was quickly sucking away their energy.

There were just _tired_, and they deserved a couple of days on land, in a city, away from each other and away from the ship.

Alice realized she was tired, too, and she hadn't even begun the work which she had set out to do. She needed to make it to _China_ and establish good relations with the people there before establishing forts and trading posts in the country.

Captain Essam quietly wandered into Alice's cabin and sat across from her at the small table.

"Will you be going into the city?" the man asked. Essam was tall, with narrowed eyes and a strong jaw. He was very firm in issuing orders and captaining the boat and sailors. His expression was blank, without emotion, and when he first joined the crew Alice found it difficult to look into his eyes for long. The Captain was an intimidating figure, but after about a month with the man, Alice knew that he was a very quiet, gentle man. He moved slowly, he rarely raised his voice, and Alice now saw his expressionless face as calm and easy rather than hard and unmoving.

"I suppose I will," Alice told him. "I've got work to do, but I need a night off the ship."

"Good. You'll find India to be very peculiar-"

_I doubt it_, Alice thought.

"-and I think you'll like it. They have wonderful creatures in the market." Essam gave a soft sigh. "It has been a long time since I've visited India."

"I'll accompany you to town, then," Alice informed him.

"Fantastic," he declared, even though his expression didn't belay any sort of pleasure or excitement.

After the ship had docked, Essam escorted Alice into the city.

Alice reveled in her freedom and independence. She was a single woman embarking on a great adventure, on her own whim and using her own capital. She stood tall, she knew how to use a sword, and her men respected her. Still, visiting a foreign country and culture was somewhat scary, and as a woman, it was _very_ dangerous. She never left the ship without an escort. She was usually accompanied by one of the native men she had hired for the ship, since they spoke multiple languages and knew their ways around the foreign ports, and besides, the Englishmen weren't interested in looking about the markets. They took their money strait to the taverns.

Essam had traveled to India several times previously, and so he knew a bit of the language and easily escorted Alice around the market and city.

The captain had been correct. India was strange, as far as human lands went, and Alice was delighted. She peered at the bright colors she saw, the new fabrics, the interesting people, and she viewed them all with bright, excited eyes. During her journey, she had heard many new languages, but Alice decided she liked Hindi more than almost any other, besides Essam's Arabic, that is.

Then, Essam took her to the menagerie.

"We'll buy you a pet," the captain informed Alice. "Nothing too dangerous, I think. I won't allow a tiger aboard the ship or around you. But maybe a small monkey or-"

"Cat!" Alice cried, her eyes wide and pinned on one of the caged animals.

Essam moved to inspect the creature. He was surprised that Alice would notice a _cat_ when there were so many other marvelous creatures to see. Essam was especially drawn towards the small Sun Bears, or maybe the foxes. However, when he saw the cat which had caught Alice's eye, he decided it _was_ a very interesting animal. It was the largest cat he'd ever seen. And _its fur_! The stripes were patterned like a house cat's, rather than any animal from the wild, but the stripes were a magnificent dark green and purple.

It was only a cat, but when Essam looked into its bright green eyes, he motioned for the seller of the animal.

"We'd like to buy this cat," he declared, his Hindi somewhat shaky but sufficient for this transaction.

"Buy?" the Indian asked. "Sir, I will _pay you_ to take it!"

"What?" Essam asked, suddenly less confident of his ability to speak and understand Hindi. "But-"

The man was already trusting the heavy cage towards Essam. The captain was strong, but he hadn't been so startled by something in _years_, and he staggered under the weight of the cat's cage. He hurried to right the cage before the cat was jostled too much and became upset, but when he peered into the cage, he found the cat sitting calmly, his large bushy tail flicking languidly from side to side.

Alice had quickly retrieved the cage's key from the Indian man and she moved to unlock to the cage, unheeding of the man's protests. Alice didn't understand the quick Hindi he was speaking, but Essam was able to piece the speech together.

"Don't!" the man cried. "You can't! You mustn't! Lady, do not unlock the cage or the beast will _eat_ you! The beast, the beast-"

Before Essam was able to relay this message, Alice had opened the cage. Essam was fully prepared to draw his knife and slit the animal open. Therefore, he was surprised when the animal easily stepped into Alice's arms with an indignant sniff towards the Indian. The cat's stripped tail wrapped around Alice's shoulder and one of his clawed paws swung beneath Alice's arm.

The beast-cat gently purred.

"Well," Essam said shortly.

Alice held Cheshire tightly in her arms as she carried the cat back to the ship.

"Chessur," she murmured at the cat. "What are you _doing_ here?"

"Underland was _boring_," he drawled quietly, his large mouth hardly moving. "The parties are all finished, and the White Queen is _horribly_ busy cleaning up after her sister. Hatter has gotten into another argument with Time. And I missed you, Alice."

"Oh dear," Alice sighed. "They haven't gotten into trouble, have they?"

"Hatter has, a bit," Cheshire conceded. "But it's nothing he hasn't Dealt with before."

"Did you really miss me that much?" Alice asked the cat.

Even as he sighed, "Of course," he sounded flippant and uncaring. "You're Underland's champion. Your absence in noticed. I had planned to find a hole and push you down it, but this place is interesting enough for now." Chessur gave India an appreciative nod.

"Alice, are you talking to that cat?" Essam asked from where he followed behind the girl.

"Yes," Alice answered.

Essam wasn't truly surprised at this answer. He had always considered Alice a strange girl. However, the captain _was_ surprised when the cat peered at him over Alice's shoulder and gave him a wide, pointed grin.

It was the first of many strange things Essam was to see.

**Annoying Note: There you go! I hope this sounds interesting so far. Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for your reviews! As always, they inspire me and keep me writing. I hope you enjoy the new chapter!**

Chessur hated the water, and it was _everywhere_. Alice suggested he stay in her cabin, but he was much more interested in watching the girl as she worked on the ship and with her men.

She really was a leader, the Champion. Chessur had no doubt that when they returned to Underland, Alice would take control of the Queen's army quickly and flawlessly. This was obvious in the turn of her head, the note of command in her voice, and the firm, upright placement of her feet on the deck (this seemed much more promising than the swordsman who was always swinging around in trees and insisting that the men under his command swing around in the trees with him). Alice wasn't the captain, but the crew respected her and her order was held higher than the captain's.

Although Cheshire enjoyed seeing Alice in this setting, he much preferred Underland. He liked the shady afternoons and the dark forests, while the Indian ocean was sunny and too hot.

Cheshire also didn't like how… reasonable everything was. The sailors hardly ever went mad, the creatures didn't speak, and the sky always stayed above the ground. The whole thing was quite disconcerting.

"How can you _stand_ on it?" Chessur asked, peering up at the moon one evening as he rocked on his back in the air next to the young girl.

"With both feet about shoulder width apart," Alice answered. "You'll get used to it, really. Just remember that there are impossible things, and something Great happens every day."

"You sound as reasonable as the queen," Cheshire grumbled with an agitated flick of his tail.

Behind Alice and Cheshire, on the other side of the deck, Essam stood with two very concerned crew members.

"_Is she a witch_?" one whispered in Arabic.

"_I'm sure she's not_," Essam answered confidently. "_But the cat may be. The Indian we bought him from warned me that he was a monster. I wonder if he can grow to monstrous proportions like he disappears." _

As Essam spoke, the cat indeed began to fade away. The three men became silent. They had been sailing with the animal for a week, and they had observed this process often enough to recognize that if the cat disappeared, it would reappear somewhere else. He had once solidified over Essam's shoulder while the man was inspecting the maps, and it was as close to horrified as he'd ever become. If the cat presently did anything like this to the two nervous crew members standing next to him, Essam wanted to be ready to comfort and calm them before someone was hurt.

The cat only reappeared on Alice's other side, though, his front paws holding the ship's railing as he peered into the water.

"_Isn't it bad luck, though_?" One of the men asked once the cat was once again within sight. "_Cats are bad enough, but how can we be sure of a witch-cat_?"

"_Maybe the bad luck of the witch and the bad luck of the cat cancel each other out_," the other crew member reasoned. His Arabic was of a different dialect than the others, but he was still easily understood.

"_Or maybe it's twice the bad luck_," the other crewman added.

"_Don't be ridiculous," _Essam demanded. "_The wind has been at our back for the past week, and we've been making up some of the time which has been lost. The cat isn't bad luck. On the contrary, he may be useful. I believe it is his influence which has improved Miss Alice's mood in the last few days_."

"_You're right," _one of the crewmen sighed_. _"_I don't think I've seen her look so lively since I started sailing with her_."

As their conversation had progressed, their attention had wandered from the strange green and purple cat. When Essam's attention turned back to Alice, he saw that she now stood talking to the cook, and the cat had disappeared from sight.

Essam was thankful when the cat's wide grin appeared over his shoulder and not at the shoulders of either crew member standing with him.

"What secrets are being told over here?" the cat asked.

"There are no secrets, sir," Essam answered. "We are just debating fortune and luck."

Chessur sniffed disdainfully at the words. "Personally, I don't waste my time with such fickle endeavors. I find Fortune especially distasteful. Horrible temper, that one, and never much fun at parties."

"You're not an omen, then? Just a witch?" one of the crewmen asked.

"A witch?" Chessur hissed, his fur standing on end. "Certainly not! My magic is dissolved! Potions and transformations are for the young and unskilled."

The three sailors had no idea what to make of this outburst, and although interested and intrigued, they were each a little relieved when the cat disappeared. He reappeared with a weightless turn over Alice's shoulders, and the cook gave a small cry of surprise at the cat's sudden appearance.

The sailors laughed at the man, privately delighted that _they_ hadn't reacted in such a way when the cat had appeared over Essam's shoulder.

"_I guess I don't know much about magic_," one of the sailors commented, "_but it seems amusing_."

* * *

It was hot and humid, and Cheshire's fur felt heavy and uncomfortable in the outside air. On days like these, he didn't like for humans to touch him. He drank water instead of tea, and he sat on the shady side of the ship, watching dolphins.

"I wonder what the time is," the cat said absently. The cabin boy who sat near him looked up when the animal spoke.

The boy was from Morocco, and he was one of the first to join the crew after the initial bout of typhoid fever. He'd picked up on quite a bit of English over the last few months, especially at the beginning of the journey when the crew had been predominantly British. He'd fallen out of the habit of speaking English, though, after most of the Englishmen had been picked off by the journey and replaced by African and Arabic men. He had only a vague idea of what the cat was asking.

In all honesty, though, he was more interested in the fact that the cat had spoken at all. Ever since the beast had come aboard the ship, he had tried to get as close to the cat as often as he could in the hopes of seeing it float or disappear. This was the first time he'd heard the cat speak, though.

"Can you teach my mother's cat to talk?" he asked.

"Language cannot be taught. It must be earned," the cat answered. "Excuse me, please. I must check the time."

The boy watched as the cat jumped from the ship's railing and towards the main cabin, it's claws clicking against the wood as he walked up the wall. After pondering the cat's words for a moment, the boy decided that he had forgotten the meaning of English words, because that cat hadn't made any sense at all.

"Alice!" Cheshire called when he found Alice standing with the first mate behind the wheel. "Alice, do you have a looking glass? I'd like to check the time."

"I think there's one in Essam's cabin," Alice answered.

Cheshire had expected as much. He'd never seen any glass in Alice's cabin, and it was obvious from the girl's appearance that she hadn't looked into a mirror since her journey had begun.

When Chessur made his way to Essam's cabin, he found the man relaxing on his berth with a book.

"_Marhaba_, Chess," Essam greeted, somewhat curious of the cat's presence in his space. Cheshire usually followed Alice.

"Good afternoon," Chessur responded. "Is it about tea time?"

"Not yet, but there is some cheese, if you'd like some."

"Cheese is for mice," Chessur replied with a long grin. "Alice said you had a looking glass I could use for a moment."

"Above the drawers," Essam directed as he put his book down. He threw his legs over the side of the bed, curious. The cat could talk, smile, float and disappear. Now it was worried about its reflection?

The cat leaped weightlessly on top of the chest of drawers and peered into the mirror. A moment latter, he cried out, "Oh, dear! Excuse me Sir Lion, I was looking for Queen Mirana's looking glass."

"Think nothing of it," a deep growl responded from the other side of Essam's mirror. "She'll be three stories up and three looking glasses over. Be sure not to get caught in the Egg's hand mirror, though. He'll want to pull you through for tea."

"Insufferable Eggs," Chessur groused. "Thank you, Sir Lion."

_A lion_? Essam though, standing. _He can talk to other creatures through my mirror_?

"Chessur, thank goodness!" another voice called through his mirror. "There you are! I've had Bayard looking everywhere for you!"

"That mutt could never find me," Cheshire answered proudly.

"Oh, Chess, where are you?"

"I'm with Alice," he answered. "In the Aboveland."

"In the- Chess! You are unauthorized! You know Nivens is the only one aloud to pass between!"

"Yes, of course."

"Well you've found Alice! Is she coming back with you, now?"

Essam moved to look into the mirror. He wondered if it would be a she-lion he saw, or maybe a mountain cat, or a night cat.

He was pleasantly surprised to see a beautiful woman on the other side of the glass.

"What do you mean you're not bringing Alice?" the woman cried. "Cheshire, _please_! We miss her terribly!"

"Excuse me, Mirana, but I'm having a pleasant vacation, made even more so by the fact that I've got Alice to myself without you or Tarrant to monopolize her time."

The woman frowned. "Chess, if you don't bring her back, I'll send someone who will."

"She'd hardly be fooled into falling down another hole," Cheshire said with a grin.

"We don't need a hole if- Oh! Chess, who is your friend?"

Chessur turned around, having forgotten that he had an audience. "Your Majesty, this is Essam, the captain of Alice's ship. It's his looking glass I'm using."

The woman's sour expression suddenly became kind and radiant. "Essam. Thank you for lending us your looking glass. You know my champion?"

Essam determined that the cat and this woman _must_ be friends, since they each spoke of confusing and strange things.

"He knows Alice, yes," Cheshire answered for him. "Essam is employed by her."

"Wonderful. Might you call Alice over so I may speak to her?" Mirana asked as she gave Essam a gentle wave.

"Excuse me, your highness, but I believe it is time for tea," Chessur answered with a grin. "What is your time?"

"My time is passing horribly slowly," Mirana answered. "And your time is almost up, Chess."

"I'm well aware," the cat answered.

"Essam, it was quiet wonderful meeting you-"

"Tea time, your highness," the cat interrupted, then the woman's image promptly disappeared from the glass mirror.

"How peculiar," Essam said aloud.

"I suppose so," Cheshire answered. "But she's really quite kind, her magic is impressive, and she _loves_ the land, so we tolerate her strange behavior."

**Annoying Note: There you go! The scene is set! I didn't edit this chapter before putting it up. I was too excited to have it finished. I'll look it over after letting it set out in the sun for a while. **

**Review! Tell me what you think!  
**


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